A conveyor chain of this type is known from DE 199 45 912 A1. The damping head is, at a lower portion thereof, fixedly connected to the upper end portion of a metal shaft of the transport bar and includes a central, elastic portion. This central, elastic portion is configured as a closed bellows, a spring steel strip structure or an elastic cushion. The impact part of the head may then again consist of a plastic solid material, which may be the same material as that of the fastening portion. DE 199 45 912 A1 is a concept application for improving known can conveyor chains of the type described e.g. also in WO 99/23018 A1. These known, widely-used can chains have damping heads, which are arranged such that they are displaceable relative to the shaft of the transport bar and which, for this purpose, are supported on a compression spring and secured in position by means of a locking washer. The external spring means used there may cause problems under the rough operating conditions of these conveyor chains, since a contamination of the mechanical spring system may result in a loss of the damping characteristics. Such conveyor chains are used e.g. in plants where cans are printed on and are sometimes subject to contamination through paints. The concepts presented in DE 199 45 912 A1 have, however, never been realized. Alternatively to the more failure-prone, spring-mounted damping heads, damping heads are also known, which are fixedly attached to the shaft of the transport bar and which are made of different plastic materials, said damping heads being, however, normally not capable of providing damping characteristics which are as good as those of the spring-mounted version. Another problem entailed by such conveyor chains for conveying cans is that entry in a drying oven after the painting process is normally accompanied by high temperatures and necessitates a certain thermal stability of the materials used, and that a side effect of this is usually a deterioration of the damping characteristics. Additional can conveyor chains are known from US2006/0038313A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,549,530 B2.